When, in early February, it was publicly announced that Pope Francis would be visiting Malta in the first week of April, it is probable that the date of the election had already been set.

Prime Minister Robert Abela could have possibly whispered it in the Pope’s ears when the two met last year.

It is known that the Vatican does not want to play a part in domestic issues, and so it was made clear that the pontiff would not have wanted to come to Malta in the middle of an election campaign.

So it must have been agreed that either it happens after the country goes to the polls, or early enough so as not to be construed as being used as a propaganda event for the government.

As things happened, the Pope will be coming over for the first weekend of the new government, with some quick to remark, tongue-in-cheek, that he would be here for the “victory mass meeting”.

One week is rather a short time in between an election and a papal visit. Then again, the Vatican has its own programme and schedule, and it is probable that the pope’s visit could not have been delayed for longer.

After all, he was supposed to come over two years ago, but Covid-19 brought havoc and in those initial months of the pandemic the world was too confused on how to deal with the situation. It was later thought that Pope Francis would have come to Malta in early December of 2021 – in the same days that he was visiting Greece and Cyprus – but it did not happen then, either.

The visit

It will be a short visit, spanning two days but not longer than 32 hours, with the Pope also finding the time to visit Gozo, while the main event will be the Sunday morning mass on the Granaries in Floriana.

It must be said that with the visit coming so close to an election, it has been and will be overshadowed by the developments that will take place after the vote.

It must be remembered that the election is not just the day when we vote – it is the counting process, it is the celebration of the winners, it is the formation of the Cabinet, it is what happens within the political party that loses, it is also the holding of a process to establish who would replace candidates elected on two districts and, as from this year, the triggering of a mechanism to elect more women to create a better gender balance in the House of Representatives.

In other words, an election is not over when the people vote, but leads to a series of events that would eventually culminate in the opening of Parliament, the day when officially the new legislature starts. The pope will be visiting in this vacuum of time between the election and the new Parliament.

It is, in a way, a pity that Pope Francis will be coming over in these circumstances. The preparation for the event, and the event itself, would have certainly been given more importance if it had taken place at any other time.

A pope’s visit to any country is usually an opportunity for a rekindling of spirituality, but the euphoric state of the winners and the depressive state of the losers will hardly leave any room for moments of religiousness.

It is probable that the international media will be giving it greater value, giving that it will be the first time that the pontiff will be leaving Italy since the war in Ukraine started.

The pope has made several statements to denounce the war and call for peace, describing the situation as a “sacrilege”, “abhorrent” and “inhuman”. One would expect some similar forceful terminology to be used when he delivers the Sunday sermon on 3 April, words which the major news agencies will pick up.

The archbishop

There will possibly be another item that will be on people’s minds when the Pope visits Malta, and this concerns the future of the Curia in Malta, particularly that of the archbishop.

It is probable that nothing official will be announced when the pope is here, as it is not the Vatican’s style to use such occasions to give information on its internal structures.

But information has already emerged as to what could be happening in the weeks and months to come.

Religious websites have been speculating for quite some time that Pope Francis intends to appoint Archbishop Charles Scicluna to a top position in the Vatican.

Scicluna could be headed to occupy one of the top two posts of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), which is responsible for the promulgating and defence of the Catholic doctrine.  The CDF’s work also includes a disciplinary section responsible for investigating the most serious crimes in the Church, such as those against the Eucharist and the sanctity of the sacrament of penance, and also the sexual abuse of minors by members of the clergy.

Scicluna is earmarked to take over either the post of secretary (second in command), or that of prefect (top post) of the CDF.

At present, he serves as one of two adjunct secretaries of the congregation, a post given to him by Pope Francis in 2018.

Now, apparently, it is time for him to be promoted, and the papal visit next week could be one of the last public activities for Scicluna as head of the church in Malta.

It is a well-known fact that the archbishop is highly-regarded in Vatican circles, and has been personally appointed by the pontiff to deal with extremely delicate issues, such as sexual abuse cases by priests in Chile in 2018. That time, Scicluna had been described as the Vatican’s most respected sex abuse investigator. His report had pushed Pope Francis to say that he had committed “errors or judgment” in the way he had initially tackled the scandal.

It must also be remembered that, before being appointed archbishop in 2015, Scicluna had worked for a decade at the CDF as Promoter of Justice. So he has all the credentials to make it.

Changes

Such a promotion could trigger changes at the Maltese Curia. Scicluna could still remain head of the church in Malta while occupying the position of prefect or secretary of the CDF, but his new responsibilities would dictate a longer presence in Rome.

He would have less time to cover his duties in Malta, and therefore the appointment of his successor as archbishop could become a requirement. The likelihood is that, if Scicluna does get the promotion, there will be weeks or months of transition until a replacement is found.

It would be a similar process to that which happened in Gozo a few years ago. Bishop Mario Grech had retained his post as head of the Gozo diocese before he took over as secretary general of the Synod of Bishops. Anton Teuma had then taken over his position in Gozo.

On a more personal level, Scicluna’s appointment to one of the two top posts of the CDF could also lead to him being elevated to cardinal. The current prefect of the CDF has that title, and were Scicluna to get that post, it would be almost natural for him to move from wearing an amaranth biretta to one which is red.

Grech had also been named a cardinal after being appointed to another top post in the Vatican, and it stands to reason that Scicluna would also get such a title.

With 10 cardinals set to lose their papal voting rights in 2022, as they reach 80 years of age, Pope Francis is set to appoint fresh faces to the list of 120 cardinals who will form the conclave that would eventually elect his successor.

As things are going, Malta might have two voters the next time a pope is elected.